STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; Reps. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., and Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio; former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, who's leading an NRA program that will develop a model security plan for schools that relies on armed volunteers.

Id be interested in your opinions of the Penny Plan. Connie Mack Jr, and Rand Paul gave it some lip service during the last cyce. It ends baseline budgeting, and reduces spending by 1% a year for not too many years. Combined with some sort of entitlement reform, it could work, imho.

Too simplistic. Sounds good until you get into the details. Our entitlement programs will continue to increase due to our aging population. They will go up much more than 1% a year. And now we have added Obamacare, which will not be cost neutral by any metric. Medicare costs nine times what it was projected to cost. Obamacare will be the same if not worse.

What impact will inflation have? Do you take 1% a year in inflation adjusted dollars? And what percentage of GDP do you expect in terms of revenue?

When almost two thirds of the budget is on automatic pilot, much of it going up due to COLAs, inflation, a aging population, and interest rates, can you really make 1% annual cuts across the board?

The sad reality is that Americans want the benefits of the welfare state, but don't want to pay the taxes to pay for it. Mark Steyn said this:

A few months ago, I dined with a (pardon my English) French intellectual who, apropos Mitt Romney's stump-speech warnings that we were on a one-way ticket to Continental-sized dependency, chortled to me, "Americans love Big Government as much as Europeans. The only difference is that Americans refuse to admit it."

My Gallic charmer is on to something. According to the most recent (2009) OECD statistics: Government expenditures per person in France, $18,866.00; in the United States, $19,266.00. That's adjusted for purchasing-power parity, and, yes, no comparison is perfect, but did you ever think the difference between America and the cheese-eating surrender monkeys would come down to quibbling over the fine print? In that sense, the federal debt might be better understood as an American Self-Delusion Index, measuring the ever-widening gap between the national mythology (a republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens) and the reality (a 21st century cradle-to-grave nanny state in which, as the Democrats' Convention boasted, "government is the only thing we do together.").

Generally speaking, functioning societies make good-faith efforts to raise what they spend, subject to fluctuations in economic fortune: Government spending in Australia is 33.1 percent of GDP, and tax revenues are 27.1 percent. Likewise, government spending in Norway is 46.4 percent, and revenues are 41 percent  a shortfall but in the ballpark. Government spending in the United States is 42.2 percent, but revenues are 24 percent  the widest spending/taxing gulf in any major economy.

So all the agonizing over our annual trillion-plus deficits overlooks the obvious solution: Given that we're spending like Norwegians, why don't we just pay Norwegian tax rates?

No danger of that. If (in Milton Himmelfarb's famous formulation) Jews earn like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans, Americans are taxed like Puerto Ricans but vote like Scandinavians. We already have a more severely redistributive taxation system than Europe, in which the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans pay 70 percent of income tax while the poorest 20 percent shoulder just three-fifths of 1 percent. By comparison, the Norwegian tax burden is relatively equitably distributed. Yet Obama now wishes "the rich" to pay their "fair share"  presumably 80 percent or 90 percent. After all, as Warren Buffett pointed out in The New York Times this week, the Forbes 400 richest Americans have a combined wealth of $1.7 trillion. That sounds like a lot, and once upon a time it was. But today, if you confiscated every penny the Forbes 400 have, it would be enough to cover just over one year's federal deficit. And after that you're back to square one.

It's not that "the rich" aren't paying their "fair share," it's that America isn't. A majority of the electorate has voted itself a size of government it's not willing to pay for.

If we have a unanimous candidate after 2014, like maybe Marco, wouldn't we be better off than going through a treacherous primary like last time. Where money and energy is sapped we wound up with only a few weeks left to counter all their lies? If she has four years to prepare and fund raise and we windup with a contentious primary we really don't have a prayer do we?

152
posted on 12/23/2012 8:52:28 AM PST
by rodguy911
(FreeRepublic:Land of the Free because of the Brave--Sarah Palin our secret weapon)

no matter how much artificial work Hillary gets done...she will still be 70’ish and her energy, level and her physical abilities will diminish..she will not be able to jump steps and and slide across a stage and talk at the same time..it happens to everyone..the aging process at work..

I talk from experience..70 and no longer able to jump, run, or keep up a 20 hr. day!!! use too though...as I LOL P.S. watch Harry Reid, he is barely able to still stand up straight and he walks...like someone with NO energy in his 70's...

I don't it really matters who our candidate is or how we select him. We have reached the tipping point demographically. The Dems have a permanent majority.

Some states like VA and Ohio are talking about allocating their electoral votes by Congressional District and then awarding the two votes from the Senate to whomever wins the majority of the congressional districts. It would help the Reps in swing states offsetting the huge Dem advantage in urban areas. It is a stop gap measure but could help us in the short term.

Yes. All the stuff about Hil being too old or/and fat by 2016 is piffle.

I'll see your pair and raise you one.

Cause I am a great fan of fashion shows, makeover shows, yada, yada.

Not that I'm proud of this necessarily.

But no one in Hillary Clinton's position goes out in public like that, no one.

She told Baba Wawa that she had no courtesans to pamper her but what a lie, what a damnable lie. She has coterie of would-be attendants, sheesh were we born at night, LAST night?

She's being set up for a breath-taking makeover, yes she is, and it's part of the plan.

It's the only reason I halfway agree with Kabar as I see the script as written and it will be effective, thank me very much.

She will lose weight, she will get hair cut and shaped, she will get surgery as required, yes she will and she will enter upon the political scene to capture the attention of all, especially the low information voters.

She will be interviewed by Katie Couric, who the MSM is STILL trying to salvage despite being kicked off Today and failing miserably as a new nightly news anchor for a year. Payback for her participation in the destruction of Sarah Palin as they see it cause it's how these people wield their power.

Hillary will tell Katie how stressed she was during her term as Secretary, how she didn't get to see her family, especially her daughter Chelsea. The last thing she could deal with was her appearance what with her dedication to serving the American public.

I can write the script and it will work. Americans, especially the low information voters, will mist up and while gazing at her new look will be happy to make such a dedicated woman their president.

The only way this makeover will work is for Hillary to offer the striking contrast, which she does now by walking all over the world looking like Broom Hilda.

We need to teach the elected pubs how this all works. I bet not a one of them ever watched "What Not to Wear".

The official WH talking points are that there was an armed guard at Columbine (is this true?) and why do we need these high capacity magazines.

Dick Gregory, sycophant of the highest order, even held up some kind of black box supposed to be a gun magazine....sheesh the drama. I’ll never know how this guy sleeps at night with any pride but I guess his checking account keeps him cozy.

I’ve heard these talking shows on four or five shows now. They’re desperately trying to rebut LaPierre’s challenge for armed guards at all schools and the many-bulleted guns are the best they could throw out there.

Being 70 didn’t hurt Reagan. Hillary was born October 26, 1947. She will just turn 69 in 2016 just weeks before election day. So for most of the campaign she will be 68. I don’t see her as lacking energy and her handlers will make sure that her appearances create just the opposite effect. Our first woman President will just be another historic election (and victory) for the Dems against the party of old white men.

The cover-ups will be complete IF (a) the media remain lapdogs head in sand, (b) no GOP Congressman [Hello Darrell Issa..]raises hell, and (c) no one goes to Court to press for a special prosecutor.

On the latter, you need a “crime” so go with Fast & Furious and get the SP started.

The crimes in Benghazi could include illegal gun running to rebels (AQ) from CIA and State.

The Woods’ family civil suit for lack of protection may provide discovery to open this up.

Issa already has a suit pending on contempt against Holder.
But precedent says executive privilege has to yield when there is a “criminal” case pending. Open question whether Congressional ‘fishing expedition’ counts.

We need whistle-blowers. How has there not been any leaks from or interviews with the 20+ embassy/counsular staff who were saved in Benghazi?

Remember, the Watergate deal coverup held until federal Judge Sirica handed down stiff sentences to the burglars, and James McCord, for one, stated to crack.

100’s weigh a bunch and are bulky, and may jam more easily. Might be good for a mounded rifle.

60’s ? similar to 100’s. Tape together 2 30s.

That all said, the second amendment recognizes arms (and militia in the same breath). Militia is not muzzle loading single shots. Militia is defined by the current state of military. They get it; we get it. ergo 200-rd or belt-fed, whatever I can “bear”.

164
posted on 12/23/2012 9:21:21 AM PST
by Scrambler Bob
(If you could read my mind ... just count up the felonies!)

Well you are getting dangerously close to judging my heart, but no problem :) Did I at any point say I did not care? I was also mocking Chris Wallace and the atrocious media coverage of the tragic event.

The media should be focusing on the murders of young children that take place everyday at abortion clinics, was my main point, but they dont care.

Yes what took place in NEWTOWN was NOT worse than the abortions that took place on same day

Anybody that watched wall to wall coverage of that event, has a problem IMHO

Yes there will be more abortions performed in most US States tomorrow morning than lost their lives tragically in Newtown.

I was also tying it into Rick Warren saying...”I AM PRO LIFE BUT”

The conversation I was talking about all focused around Warren...He said that there are more important things than just pro life, I guess to justify his vote for Obama.

Now she's falling and she can't get up. Physically she'll be an even bigger hot mess 4 years from now. Don't underestimate the general public’s distaste of a heavyset 70 year old woman representing their nation.

174
posted on 12/23/2012 10:25:59 AM PST
by CaptainK
(...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)

There was no armed guard on duty at Columbine when the assault started. There were a couple of cops who were stationed there part time. One of them responded to 911 call and engaged Kliebold with rounds. This almost certainly saved lives because Kliebolds gun jammed while he was engaged with this cop. The WH lies, the media lies. That should always be your default position.

We will agree to disagree. Hillary will be the first woman President of the United States. No matter who the Dems nominate in 2016 will win, but Hillary will be the strongest and best candidate the Dems could nominate. And imagine, they have already elected the first black President. Now for the 53% of the electorate, a woman President.

The only way I see to change the course of this now socialist govt is to shut it down in any way available. Congress should go home, having done their job of submitting pertinent bills, and leave the senate to their predictable cowardly approach to governing by inaction.

There is no point in worrying over what the socialist democrat media will say about anything. They will pitch the Republicans as villains and the socialist democrats as either saviors or victims, and/or both, as the situation calls for. Principle is all that the Republicans have left to guide them. Black and white might be harsh, and gray is useful for moderation, but a stark line in the sand is upon us and no time for dithering. This socialist administration is in full destruction mode of this Republic's very existence. When all is said and done, only our congress has the power and means to do anything permanent about it. In short, cut off the money. Maybe submit a bill of impeachment for Obama which will accent the seriousness of congressional resolve to take back control of this country for themselves and the US citizens who elected them.

179
posted on 12/23/2012 11:09:28 AM PST
by mountainfolk
(God Bless the United States of America and the Republic for which is stands.)

The school guard (Andy Marton) was unarmed. He was sitting in the car of County Deputy Neil Gardner's car eating lunch. Gardner was armed and the car was in the parking lot. Neither of them were in the school when the perps entered.

Being 70 didnt hurt Reagan. Hillary was born October 26, 1947. She will just turn 69 in 2016 just weeks before election day. So for most of the campaign she will be 68. I dont see her as lacking energy and her handlers will make sure that her appearances create just the opposite effect. Our first woman President will just be another historic election (and victory) for the Dems against the party of old white men.

Reagan had a unique combinations of charisma,a great radio voice and guts lacking in many of our candidates today. In todays elections its all about politics. Historically, if we put up a good God fearing America loving vet or woman it was enough.

Today you better know your politics, you better be able to wreak havoc on every error of your opponent and hope the media cover it and then make as few mistakes as possible. Its a brave new world and the standards have changed.

184
posted on 12/23/2012 12:19:47 PM PST
by rodguy911
(FreeRepublic:Land of the Free because of the Brave--Sarah Palin our secret weapon)

You sound like Rush.He proclaims that if we do the right thing stand up for conservative beliefs and stop caving all the time so the dems/DBM will love us, we win they lose. We need to remember the left/drive-bys will never love us. The most we can hope for is that the either fear or respect us.I'll take fear myself.

All we have to remember is that conservatism wins every time its tried.

As usual Rush is right.

186
posted on 12/23/2012 12:24:24 PM PST
by rodguy911
(FreeRepublic:Land of the Free because of the Brave--Sarah Palin our secret weapon)

We have to start standing up. We do control the spending. I think the game is to extract as much in budget cuts as possible and then begrudgingly give in.If we just cut the budget 10% per year for five years it should be in balance. but if that means we have to shut it down until we get our way we need to stand up and do it.

The press will kill us and the dems will lie about us but in the end the country will win. Hopefully, enough people will see it and we will in win the in the voting booth as well. its a calculated risk but very worth while.

190
posted on 12/23/2012 12:36:07 PM PST
by rodguy911
(FreeRepublic:Land of the Free because of the Brave--Sarah Palin our secret weapon)

Not to harp on it CK, and also I do not mind a little critique, but I also was trying to get the point across that it is disingenuous of folks like Chris Wallace to speak as if their Christmas has been dampened by this,as if they are calling off their Family Christmas.

They are NOT canceling the Fox News Christmas party either.

Since beginning of time some people celebrate the highest point of their lives while others deal with lowest point of their lives, nothing new here.

I prayed for all the folks in this tragedy, but I also thought of the ones not mentioned, such as the unborn slaughtered

I find it hard to believe that Chris Wallace Christmas celebrations will be any different than last years, assuming they had no real personal connection with the family`s in NewTown (sp)

I don’t want to upstage you here but I got a Pelosi story...I dunno, I didn’t go to school with her but my father was a shop steward and primary contractor in the D’Alesandro household.

Nancy was about ten years older than me but I was so jealous of her, I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. My Dad would take us to the D’Alesandro house in Little Italy and Nancy would come prancing into the house, dropping her clothes everywhere, commanding her mother for lunch, cuddling up to her Dad the Mayor for permission to go to school dance.

I am quite sure Nancy has a mess of people choosing her clothes, combing her hair.....not difficult for me to imagine at all. She is the queen and will always be the queen.

I can see Axelrod and Jarrett staying up deep into the night. They have a flock of researchers searching the Internet. One runs in holding piece of paper high.

“We got a hit!” the wannabe propagandist would shout.

“Seems there was a security guard at Columbine,” the intern would say breathlessly. “And the security guard was sitting in the car of the county sherriff so he had access to the gun. Call up Dick Gregory and tell him to mention this!”

The pubs all that I saw, and this sound byte came up a couple of times, were blindsided by this sudden tidbit of information dropped so suddenly.

Now if the pubs had a clue, they’d have a group hired for just such things. They’d get them to check the databases of all mass murders, anything, so the group would be instructed by a pub with a clue, that the Dems might dredge up and use against us.

The pubs were a bit flummoxed when this information was dropped. So was I frankly, hence my question.

But it was little matter. The admin wanted propaganda out there that was dropped that there was an armed guard at Columbine and we all know what happened there.

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